Amid Covid-19, vast majority prioritise health over normalcy - gov't survey

CORONAVIRUS | The vast majority of respondents in a government survey say their health is the top priority, over income or returning to normalcy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a survey by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, 90.9 percent of respondents listed their health and life as their number one priority during the pandemic.

Only 4.6 percent of respondents said income, such as from work and business, is the top priority. Another 4.5 percent said a return to normalcy is their priority.

The online survey polled 41,386 people aged 15 and above between April 10 and April 24.

The country has been under a partial lockdown since March 18 to contain the spread of Covid-19.

A large part of the country's economy was reopened on Monday.

The survey also found 87.3 percent of respondents being satisfied with the economic stimulus package with 68.2 percent of all respondents saying that they received at least three benefits from the plan.

The top three listed assistance were cash transfers (79.2 percent), loan moratorium (60.5 percent) and discount on utilities (47.4 percent).

The survey showed 70.1 percent of respondents agreeing that the measures had helped to reduce their burden.

The top three food items that respondents spent on during the partial lockdown were rice (92.1 percent), meat (91.5 percent) and eggs (87.7 percent).

The top three spending on non-food items were hand washing liquid (76.9 percent), detergent (76.1 percent) and face masks (74.5 percent).

In the fight against Covid-19, 75.3 percent of respondents said they were very satisfied with how medical frontliners have performed as well as the facilities prepared by the government.

Another 20.8 percent said they were satisfied while 3.3 percent said they were neutral, 0.4 percent were unsatisfied and 0.1 percent were very unsatisfied.

The vast majority or 96.3 percent acknowledged that the pandemic had changed their lifestyles.

Among the changes made were improving personal hygiene (93.6 percent), limiting social activities (83.3 percent) and limiting tourism activities (67.1 percent).

Of the respondents, 42.6 percent said they are now working from home while another 20.3 percent said they are working on rotation with full salary.

Another 2.5 percent said they are on rotation but with half the salary, 8.4 percent are on paid leave, three percent are on leave with half the salary and 1.5 percent said they lost their job.

Another 21.6 percent of respondents were not part of the workforce, including students and housewives.

With schools closed during the pandemic, students have also turned to online learning.

According to the survey, 38.7 percent of students spend between one and three hours each day on e-learning while 28.8 percent spend three to five hours, 14.3 percent spend five to eight hours, 7.4 percent spend more than eight hours and 10.8 percent spend less than an hour.

The majority of respondents or 54.5 percent thought their Internet connection was average, 28.2 percent said their Internet connection was fast while 16.3 percent said it was inadequate. The remaining 1.1 percent said they did not have a connection at home.

 - Mkini